Not true re Face. Knowledge Cleric with 12 (or 14 if you can spare it) CHA who chooses all CHA-based proficiencies is a good face, and they also have Knowledge Expertise if you need it and good Insight. Make it a Githyanki and you can have proficiency with all WIS- and CHA-based skills, most INT-based (including Expertise in two) and a couple DEX-based ones, too, if you choose the right background. That makes a better face than almost any other class because it isn't always just a Persuade check. I made a GIth Knowledge Cleric with balanced stats who rarely failed any face tests.
Also, mechanically, dwarves suck, especially Shield Dwarves. In EA there was an interesting option for a Shield Dwarf Wizard or Sorcerer with Medium Armor, but now that Humans and Half-Elves can use Shields, they are better (even humans!) than Shield Dwarves. Half-Elves (wood) laugh at silly dwarves (mechanically). It shouldn't be that way, but it is.
Face really isn't what Clerics are made for...you really have to try to force it. Clerics don't swim in a million proficiencies and expertise like Rogues and Bards to really wing it efficiently. And no, proper face classes aren't just about persuasion but about ALL speech aspects...including deception and intimidation. Even if you force them in a kind of functional face Clerics are still only the 5th best face class at best. Not good at it.
As for dwarves...like I already said, no matter how bad you think they are, they're not as bad as Humans and Dragonborns...both vastly more popular classes. If people wanted to play dwarves, they would have. End of story.
I would expand what you have indicated to say face classes aren't just about persuasion, but about a great many other aspects, including Insight, Knowledge, Animal Handling, and even Perception, Survival, and Sleight of Hand, making them the main character for every possible interaction with people, animals, and things. It's actually hard to build a Knowledge Cleric that isn't a good Face, or INTERface, if you will, for everything. You can go with Soldier for Athletics + Intimidation (or Charlatan or Criminal for Deception + a DEX-based skill) and Persuasion as a Class Proficiency, then gain all WIS Proficiencies (perhaps taking Actor at 4th Level to get Expertise in Deception and Performance). Or you could go with an Urchin (for interaction with things) and Insight as a Class Proficiency, then gain all CHA Proficiencies. You just maximize the number of proficiencies you have in either CHA or WIS and use the Class Ability to get Proficiency for all skills of the attribute you neglected. It works with every race, too. Your Elf might be better off neglecting CHA Proficiencies (because they already get Perception) and using the class feature to gain proficiency with all CHA-based skills, while your Human would benefit more by putting their extra proficiency in a CHA skill other than Persuasion (along with a background that gives you a CHA Proficiency other than Persuasion) and take Persuasion and a Knowledge as a Class Proficiency and all WIS-based skills as the Class Ability. Even Rock Gnomes work fine, letting you start with Expertise in 3 different Knowledges and using the technique I just described. A Bard or Rogue designed specifically for social interaction can be better at the CHA-based skills, but they are not as effective with the other skill tests that often matter. Paladin, Sorcerer, and Warlock can only compete if they spend their Proficiencies to get something close to what a Knowledge Cleric can get with no effort (and they still only get 4 Proficiencies, plus 1 or 2 for race). The Knowledge Cleric Class Ability to gain 3 (DEX-based), 4 (CHA-based) or 5 (WIS-based) Proficiencies *in addition to* the 4-6 they start with just makes them an easier choice. You don't have to force it at all.
My Githyanki Soldier Knowledge Cleric (the least popular race and class combo, lol) has 10 STR, 18 DEX (once I got the gloves), 16 CON, 17 INT (with warped headband of intellect), 16 WIS, 16 CHA (after taking Actor). She's good in combat with shortsword & shield or light crossbow; expert in Religion, History, Deception, and Performance; and Proficient in everything except Investigation. You can't get that kind of coverage with your traditional face characters and even a Bard who takes Expertise in two CHA-based skills is not significantly better (if they are better at all) because of all the other tests that are not based on CHA (and Deception, Intimidation, and Persuasion are often redundant dialog choices anyway). Only a Githyanki Bard can match it, though that build makes the Jack-of-all-Trades Class Ability pretty weak. Warlocks, Sorcerers, and Paladins, even Githyanki ones, are worse.
Also, although you declared "end of story," I think you are wrong. A Shield Dwarf gets Darkvision (which you don't need if you have a camp wizard to cast Darkvision on anyone who doesn't have it like I do), Medium Armor, some STR-based martial weapons, and Dwarven Resilience (Resistance/Advantage against Poison). You would benefit from Medium Armor and Dwarven Resilience from being a Wizard, which is nice because you can get a 17 AC with 14 DEX and decent armor and still have 14 CON and 16 INT, plus a 12 somewhere else that doesn't matter much. A Human gets Light Armor + Shield and a Proficiency Bonus, plus some other crap; you can get an 17 AC with 14 DEX and decent armor and a shield (with an upside if you increase your DEX even further) and get a proficiency in anything, which is pretty good when you have so few to start with. That matches up reasonably well. But a Dwarf is slow, so Human > Shield Dwarf. Gold Dwarf Wizard would have better hp but worse AC, so it's even worse than a Shield Dwarf. Same for Sorcerer except Shield Proficiency works with a Draconic Sorcerer, so Human >> Dwarf. In either case, increasing STR to higher than DEX is generally going to result in a less effective character because DEX is more important if you aren't wearing Heavy Armor, you don't want to dump CON, you need a good INT or CHA, and you probably don't want to dump WIS. There just isn't much room for a decent STR-based Wizard or Sorcerer build (unless you cheese out with INT as a dump stat for a Wizard and used the Warped Headband of Intellect).
Moving up the armor ladder to lightly armored classes, Shield + Proficiency in anything > Medium Armor + Dwarven Resilience + Slow. A human's Proficiency Bonus will not be quite as interesting for a Rogue because they may have "enough" so you get diminishing returns, but Medium Armor is not going to be desirable, either, because you typically want a DEX higher than 14, so Light Armor is just as good as Medium and a Shield + Proficiency is at least as good as Dwarven Resilience and +1 hp/level (I think it's actually better), plus a Dwarf is Slow. Human > Dwarf.
For Medium and Heavy Armor Classes, Human Proficiency in anything > Dwarven Resilience & Slow, but a Gold Dwarf is arguably about the same power level as a Human; depending on how important you think +1 hp is compared to being slower, reasonable minds could differ. In my estimation, a Human is always better than a Dwarf. That's far from "Dwarves are better, case closed."
